Wednesday, December 30, 2009

I spent a great evening with about two hundred south side Chicago and Oak Lawn residents at the home of Oak Lawn commission candidate John O'Sullivan. The gathering welcomed Chicago Bears Great Bobby Douglas and Metropolitan Water Reclamation District President Terry O'Brien.

Bobby Douglas held the record as one of the greatest rushing quarterbacks in NFL history - In 1972 Bobby Douglas, out of Kansas and signed with the Bears in 1969, ran for 968 yards and 8 touchdowns on 141 carries. That record went unbroken until Mick Vick broke the string in 2006. Bobby Douglas amassed a career 2,040 yards rushing. Passing? Well, no one alive could hold onto to a ball thrown by Bobby Douglas. He was an Iron Man among Iron Men - hell, he took snaps from Mike Pyle. Bobby Douglas saw some real promise in the 2009 Bears and was very candid about the things that will bring about real change. Hard judgments and hard dollars can no longer be allowed to get tossed away. Which brings us to his appearance with my neighbors.

Bobby Douglas drove from Lake Forest to Oak Lawn John O'Sullivan's home, because he loves Chicago and the people who keep Chicago great. Bobby Douglas likes Terry O'Brien's style. The Bears need a Terry O'Brien-like manager. Bobby Douglas is a retired NFL Pro Football player, but here he was in the kitchen of a middle class working man who wants to make a difference in his community. Bobby Douglas and John O'Sullivan really hit it off. John O'Sullivan brought many friends to help Terry O'Brien and Bobby Douglas is a friend. There were also Local 399 engineers and their wives, 597 Pipe-fitters of both genders, Local 12 Carpenters, Electricians from Local 134, Operating Engineers of Local 150, school teachers, Sal, a retired City Colleges librarian, Terry Cox, an independent plumbing contractor, small business owners, postal workers, and a couple of candidates for elected office.

Prominent among these talented and thoughtful people was Terry O'Brien the twenty one year President of the fourth largest government agency in Illinois - The Metropolitan Water Reclamation District (MWRD)of Great Chicago.

MWRD formerly the Sanitary District is one of the engineering marvels of the world*.

I met Terry O'Brien for the first time. He is a solid guy and he lived up to my expectations. We voters get to know candidates only slightly, but the little I do know of Terry O'Brien is enough. He knows the job - it's mission and the operations that match the mission.

He is not a Sierra Club dilettante - he does not play at protecting the environment through policy papers and agendas. Terry O'Brien works at the job of protecting the citizens of Greater Chicago's lives with proper, scientific water treatment and sound engineering of waters. You will not see Terry O'Brien kayaking the Chicago River or preaching the gospel of Green. That is for the Brie nibblers to do. Chat on Public Radio and bully gutless editorial boards.

Terry said, "In 2008 alone, the MWRD refunded over $56 million to the residents of Cook County in tax abatements, and the MWRD has received an AAA bond rating from all three bond rating agencies. Since my election to the Board of Commissioners in 1988, the MWRD has seen no massive layoffs or unpaid vacation days. At the MWRD, I have worked hard to combine fiscally responsible policy with environmentally friendly initiatives. We have AAA ratings from all Three Bond agencies. Now, is the time for competent people in positions of Cook County Government based upon what they know and not who they know. We will cut the 1% tax. We will trim waste. We will manage Cook County Government."

The Metropolitan Water Reclamation District of Greater Chicago (District) is an independent government and taxing body encompassing approximately 91 percent of the land area and 98 percent of the assessed valuation of Cook County, Illinois.

The District is a separate legal entity sharing an overlapping tax base with the City of Chicago, the Chicago Board of Education, the Chicago School Finance Authority, the County of Cook, the Cook County Forest Preserve District, the Chicago Park District, the Chicago Public Building Commission, the Cook County Community College District, and various municipalities and school districts outside the City of Chicago but within the District’s boundaries.

The District was originally organized as the Sanitary District of Chicago in 1889 under an act of the Illinois General Assembly which has been modified from time to time to increase the District’s authority and jurisdiction. The enabling act in 1889 was in direct response to a long standing problem with contamination of the water supply and nuisance conditions of the rivers. The District reversed the flow of the Chicago and Calumet River Systems to stop the discharge of sewage to Lake Michigan and instead, discharge it to the Des Plaines River, where it could be diluted as it flowed into the Illinois River and eventually the Mississippi River. Prior to the District’s construction of a 61.3 mile system of canals and waterway improvements, the Chicago and Calumet River Systems were tributary to Lake Michigan. These river systems are now tributary to the Illinois River system.

From 1955 through 1988, the District was called The Metropolitan Sanitary District of Greater Chicago. In order to provide a more accurate perception of the District’s current functions and responsibilities, the name was changed effective, January 1, 1989, to Metropolitan Water Reclamation District of Greater Chicago.

Getting Showered and Shaved a bit ago, in order to attend to local Democratic Party functions ( good people one and all and nothing like the National Nitwits of the DNC) my son Conor was power surfing the cable and left on MSNBC, before heading to the door and work at Di Cola's Fish on Western Ave.

As I completed my wardrobe assessment for the evening Tweed Ride - frock, shirt and collar cravat, sword-cane and Churchill Waterproof, I noticed that damn his eyes - the lad had left the station tuned to MSNBC.

Salon's Joan Walsh, plumped up from the Holiday Feasting and appearing to have gone 'Double Dutch' with the Mashed Spuds ladles, was rehowling her morning's 'Props' to the Commander-in-Chief with MSNBC Meathead and resident flannel-mouth Chris Matthews. Joan and Milky were doing "the dozens" on the cross-eyed, Black Dude who sounds like steam escaping - the guy had worked for Dick Cheney. MSNBC always invites Republican or Blue Dog Democrat Victims -as opposed to guests.

I read Christine Flowers, Philly Lawyer and syndicated columnist, give a sober assesment of Janet Napolitano's Holiday Screwed Pooch - the Nigerian Security Gate-crasher who tried to murder 250 people on a flight from Amsterdam to the Good Old U.S.A.

First came Janet Reno, the Clinton attorney general who helped set the fire at Waco (with some help from the ATF) and had trouble with an illegal Elian.

But as wacky as she was (wrestling with crocs, both real and rhetorical), she looks positively competent compared to Janet Napolitano, the Obama administration head of homeland security who declared in the wake of the foiled terror attack on Christmas Day that "the system worked really very, very smoothly." (She also oversaw a report that equated political opponents of President Obama and some veterans with terrorists and hate groups. Apparently, she has a tenuous grip on reality.)

( click my post title)

I shiver with the notion that the Amatuer Hour White House might force the resignation of DHS Czarina who looks like Paulie Walnuts on The Sopranos and replace her with an experienced hand at handling Gate Crashers - Desiree Rogers.

"Lots of people just come anyways," she said. "They won't take no for an answer. Finally, I just said, 'All right, come on in. It's no use kicking you out.' " Desiree Rogers

Dang! A friend of mine bought a new Saturn several weeks ago and learned through an oafish associate - "Hey, you bought too soon! Saturn is knocking off Seven Grand to clear stock!"

Thanks so Mucking Fuch! In this case, who knew?

Had the buyer but known! The Saturn's a nice car. At least it runs. Sometimes we buy a shiny new flivver and it is a real pig. It is still your heap. Did you take it out for a spin? Read up on it? Kick the tires? Pop the hood? Those things you could have done and avoided some heart ache.

You buy it and you live with it. Thus, so with our elected officials. They come to us from the political showroom shiny and swell smelling and then whammo! They're pigs, dogs, lemons, less than we expected, not up to snuff and bum deals.

We all experience that. That is called life. Maureen Dowd, the Irish spinster who seems like the Crazy Aunt Mo that every family seems to own, is beefing today that President Obama is her Saturn, Yugo, Pinto, Opal Hatch-back. ( click me post title for Maureen Dowd's hissy fit!)

Citing the attempt of the Nigerian’s father to warn U.S. authorities six months ago, the president intoned: “It now appears that weeks ago this information was passed to a component of our intelligence community but was not effectively distributed so as to get the suspect’s name on a no-fly list.”

In his detached way, Spock was letting us know that our besieged starship was not speeding into a safer new future, and that we still have to be scared.

Heck of a job, Barry.

Heck, Maureen! You never kicked the tires, let alone popped the hood on this one! President Obama is the same guy you and most of America embraced as the Avatar of Modernity! He is as new as he was when he announced his candidacy on that blustery day in Springfield - a back benching short term Illinois State Senator with an invisible resume.

Nothing shocking. Especially that sticker shock. President Obama has all the knocks and pings that keep his Administration in neutral, but he still has that swell showroom scent.

Tuesday, December 29, 2009

Mark Kirk is not my cup of tea. I don't drink tea. I like coffee from Kean Gas on 111th & Talman. Mark Kirk is not my congressman, but he smugly voted for the Cap * Trade ( Markey/Waxman) and was the Republican cupcake who floated that idiotic bill over the fence. Mark Kirk wants to replace Roland Burris.

Jimmy the two-headed boy could replace Roland Burris, but that is another Graphic Novel ( comic book) entirely.

There's Gold in the Kankakee River Bayou at the Warner Bridge Road! Sell the house and get to panning!

A Solid Rumor that a guy is Gay?

Who Shives A Git?

I could care less if George Washington or Gertrude Stein were Homosexual - I am 50% right on that one. One historical figure is the Father of Our Country. Metaphorically speaking a dedicated Homosexual could be the "Father of Our Country." A heterosexual no matter how energetic or lascivious could not, in fact be, the literal "Father of Our Country."

An elected official works to serve the will of the people who elected her, or him.

Mark Kirk violated that one with his vote on the Markey/Waxman bill. Out he must go.

Outed? That is the man's own business. Gay or Straight? Das macht nicht!

Andy Martin is a goof. There are many goofs in public life. Gee, you think, Hickey? Yep.

A Gay public official not bound to GLBT Agenda Doctrine would have my vote. Just as a heterosexual Boiled Beets Progressive Doofus would certainly not have that vote.

Vote for a good steward. I will vote for Patrick Hughes. I am a Democrat, but Alexi Giannoulias and Dave Hoffman have too many goofs in their corners.

*A comic book annual customarily has a larger page count than its monthly counterpart, leaving room for longer single stories, multiple stories in a single annual, and/or "extra" material that the monthly series lacks the space to publish. These "extras" may include biographical information on featured characters, full-page pin-ups of characters, reprints of previously published material, or all-new short stories (often called "back-up" stories). An annual as a whole was once considered an "extra" in itself, providing story material in addition to the customary twelve issues per year of a monthly series.

**

The Illinois Republican Party released a statement condemning Martin and his ad.

"His statements today are consistent with his history of bizarre behavior and often times hate-filled speech, which has no place in the Illinois Republican Party," the statement said. "Mr. Martin will no longer be recognized as a legitimate Republican Candidate by the Illinois Republican Party."

Martin, who has run for political office several times, was convicted of attacking two photographers in Florida, CBS 2 Chicago reports, and was denied admission to the Illinois Bar for "moderately severe character defect." He reportedly once ran for Congress to "eliminate Jew power in America."

In a bid for the presidency in 1999, Martin ran a television ad in New Hampshire contending that his opponent George W. Bush "had a cocaine problem" and suffered from "alcohol abuse," the Chicago Tribune reports. He also reportedly attacked Barack Obama in the 2008 presidential election, claiming he is a Muslim and questioning whether he is a U.S. citizen.

Kirk's office released a statement calling Martin's claims "untrue and demeaning to the political process," CBS 2 reports. Jacob Meister, an openly gay candidate for the Democratic Senate nomination reportedly called the ad reminiscent of McCarthy-era tactics and said it could damage Kirk's military career. Kirk is on active duty as a Naval Intelligence officer.

Monday, December 28, 2009

"Kirk has surrounded himself with homosexuals." Heavens! Sparks of Flint!- Hell, had I surrounded myself with homosexuals, I'd have a better diet, less robust a waistline, a snappier arsenal of witty bon mots, more a sense of fabric and design, a better lawn, a least some garden and a better ear for vocal jazz.

The Scene: We are in the home of Peachum ( Andy Martin), a supposedly respectable businessman who actually fences stolen goods for professional thieves. He and Mrs. Peachum (Intercahngeable as are the cloths they affect) have just discovered that their daughter Polly ( Rep. Marque Kirque) has secretly married the infamous highwayman Captain Macheath, who is not present. Nor is he ever. (Note the contemptuous way that Mrs. Peachum dismisses the nobility, saying that a "Lord" is no better a husband than a thief).

OUR POLLY IS A SAD SLUT!NOR HEEDS WHAT WE HAVE TAUGHT HER.I WONDER ANY MAN ALIVEWILL EVER REAR A DAUGHTER.FOR SHE MUST HAVE BOTH HOOPS AND GOWNSAND HOODS TO SWELL HER PRIDE,WITH SCARFS AND STAYS AND GLOVES AND LACE,AND SHE WILL HAVE MEN BESIDE;AND WHEN SHE'S DRESSED WITH CARE AND COST,ALL-TEMPTING FINE AND GAY,AS MEN SHOULD SERVE A COWCUMBER,SHE FLINGS HERSELF AWAY.

POLLY: Played by Rep. Marque Kirque

CAN LOVE BE CONTROLLED BY ADVICE?WILL CUPID OUR MOTHERS OBEY?THOUGH MY HEART WERE AS FROZEN AS ICE,AT HIS FLAME 'TWOULD HAVE MELTED AWAY.WHEN HE KISSED ME SO CLOSELY HE PRESSED,'TWAS SO SWEET THAT I MUST HAVE COMPLIED:SO I THOUGHT IT BOTH SAFEST AND BESTTO MARRY, FOR FEAR YOU SHOULD CHIDE.

My Grandfather, Lawrence Hickey, inspired a great respect for the power majesty and magically entertaining value of words in me and all of my cousins.

He was a genuine County Kerry Bogman - a Culchie.* Despite the many years here in America he never lost a bit of the Kerry Mountain Bog. A Culchie is said to be any rural rube in Ireland. There is a town in Mayo called Coillte Mach( Culchie Ma) that means woodlands or forest. Some hold that to be the root of Culchie. I believe that it comes from another Irish phrase meaning the "back door." In Irish the term cúl na tí mean 'back of the house' as friends and loved ones did and continue to enter one's home using the back door. My grandmother was cúl na tí girl when she arrived here in Chicago in 1912 speaking only Irish. Nora Sullivan worked as a cook's helper and cook for the wealthy on Prairie Avenue in Chicago. She entered the homes of the Rich Yanks by the back door.

Thus; cúl na tí culture is a paradox - friends and family are associated with the back door and servitude/humility/social class as well.

South Side Irish in my neighborhood of Beverly/Morgan Park/Mount Greenwood continue the cúl na tí culture. No one comes to my front door but deliverymen, precinct captains, and African American Church Folks.

Yesterday, was the Feast of the Holy Family and it put me in mind of the cúl na tí culture and Granpa Hickey. One of my earliest memories is the sound of his Kerry Yowl intensifying with each step closer to our Georgian at 75th & Wood as he marched across the unpaved alley from Marshfield and 75th Street - "Jesus, Mary and Joseph!! Jesus, Mary and Joseph!!!! Mrs. Hickey ( he never called my Mom Virginia or Ginny) Mrs. Hickey Your Bastard of a Husband!!! Is He Home??????" These shouts and imprecations were repeated like monastic plain-song until he tossed open the alley gate and thundered into our yard. The Man had issues - he was a Rage-a-holic before it got on the map. Thirteen children might have had some factor in that issue.

My father had been accused, no doubt by one of his six brothers, to have 'borrowed' a push wheel lawn mower. pipe wrench, assortment of batteries, or good nails from his FATHER's personal horde of items that he had stolen from the Sanitary District.

My Dad worked three jobs and was often absent during Grandpa Hickey's wildly colorful visits to my mother.

Jesus, Mary and Joseph were not so much the Holy Family to us all as they were elements of a malediction poured down on the head of my father. "That Little Bastard!!! Mrs. Hickey!!!! Has My Shtep Ladder from Cook County Hospital!!!! I am painting my sills!!! I am not painting my sills, because that Little Bastard has my Shtep Ladder!!!! Jesus Mary and Joseph open the garage!!!"

No Shtep Ladder ( Step ladder in common vernacular). Our Sameday Visitor would eventually calm down, have tea, and tease the spalpeens ( my brother and I),and then head off to pull the tongue out of the son ( Bart, Jack, Donny, or Sy) who had falsely accused my father - who had in fact taken the shtep ladder, used it and given it to another brother.

Jesus, Mary and Joseph reminds me of the Holy Family and also of the odd cúl na tí culture we Chicago Irish possess - one that somehow soothes with a shout. It is a paradox and fun to watch.

Roman Catholic religious festival falling on the first Sunday after Christmas. Although major feast days dedicated to each member of the Holy Family—Jesus, Mary, and Joseph—also exist, the Feast of the Holy Family commemorates their life together and the celebration focuses on religious family life. Because of the flight of the Holy Family into Egypt, a feast for the Holy Family has been observed by the Copts from early times. In Western Christianity, however, a cult of veneration for the Holy Family as a group, rather than as individuals, did not arise until the 17th century and was not officially recognized until the feast day was instituted in 1921. Originally celebrated on the Sunday after Epiphany (January 6), the Feast of the Holy Family was moved to the Sunday after Christmas in 1969, bringing it within the Christmas season.

* culchie is a term sometimes used to describe a person from rural Ireland. It usually has the pejorative sense of "country bumpkin", but is also reclaimed by some proud of their rural origin, and may be used by either side in banter between town and country people. However it is often derogatory, used by those living in Dublin for anyone who lives "outside of the pale" or "down the country". In large cities such as Cork, Limerick and Galway, the term may be sometimes allocated to anybody who comes from outside an urban area. The same is true for Belfast and the rest of Northern Ireland, where the term is also popular.[1] Generally the term is more humorous than abusive in rural areas, as opposed to the more offensive term "muck-savage". Culchies are seen as simple people who have a fairly direct manner, physical strength, limited social skills, and a rich accent.[citation needed]

Sunday, December 27, 2009

In case you haven’t heard, Lauren McGovern came home from the hospital earlier this month and was able to be together with her family this Christmas.

Jewel Food Stores are hosting a Shop & Share for Lauren this December 29th, 30th and 31st. Go to http://www.lovinglauren.org/uploads/jewel_Dec28_29_30.pdf to download and print the forms to give to the cashier. This is NO COST to you, and a small percentage of any purchases you make at Jewel on any of these days gets credited to the McGovern family. You are prohibited from handing these forms out in front of any Jewel-Osco Stores, but you should print a few extra ones in case you run into any of your neighbors at the store that didn’t hear about this.

There will be a benefit for her at Bourbon Street on April 17, 2010 to help raise funds for her ongoing rehabilitation. Please visit http://www.lovinglauren.org for details.

Thanks for supporting this fine family and their beautiful little girl.

PLEASE FORWARD THIS TO ARTICLE TO EVERYONE IN YOUR ADDRESS BOOK, AS THEY ARE HONORED AT ANY JEWEL-OSCO STORE NATION WIDE.

Saturday, December 26, 2009

Progressives want to see the end of the Skilled Trades, because they believe that all labor should be subsumed by Andy Stern's SEIU.

The Skilled Trades built the vanishing American Standard of Living and the American Middle Class.

Skilled Trades Unions are always targeted by media investigative cadres. There is never an inquiry of the power and corruption within Services Employees Services Union. That has been the case since the Leftist SEIU devoured the old janitors unions back in the 1970's.

December 26, 2009While I agree with critics who say the city plumbing inspector accused of violating codes should be fired, why bring his salary into it?I am a union plumber and proud of my trade, though I've been laid off for 21 months.

What do critics think is a fair wage?

If I were working now my salary would be similar, though as a private-sector plumber I would not get paid holidays, sick days, vacation, etc.

I am tired of people commenting negatively on our pay and charges for work performed.

I and every other union plumber out there went through five years of apprenticeship, and we work very hard to earn that money, whether that's rodding out sewer systems, plumbing single-family homes or 95-story high-rises. We do the work that you don't want to or don't know how to. It's a skilled trade, and you pay for that skill.

Without qualified plumbers and the plumbing inspectors, everyone's health could be put at risk through improper water connections or sewage disposal.

Instead of complaining how much a plumber makes, next time thank him for providing safe drinking water for you and your family and for getting that razor out of your sewer that you flushed down the toilet so your home isn't backed up with raw sewage.

Toni Preckwinkle has a pass from the Chicago Editorial Boards and the humorless and, in my opinion, not really all that bright 4th Ward Alderman (Nobel novelist Saul Bellow was racist* because the NYT said so and Toni falls down open manholes -c.1998)wants to be CCBP. Progressives have welded their beings to Toni, as they always do once the central thought machine determines who is really whom. Old Harold Washington thought that Toni Preckwinkle was 'not all that' and backed Judge Tim Evans. Toni got the backing of national joke Carol Moseley Braun( Dorothy Brown on Steroids) and managed to squeak into the Alderman's chair in 1991.

Terry O'Brien worked at the Sanitary District, as did his father. He worked to become President of one of the largest fresh water management districts on earth - the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District of Chicago. Terry O'Brien is a manager.

Cook County is mismanaged. Really, really, really mismanaged. Terry O'Brien is the last guy that Mayor Daley wants as President of the Cook County Board.

Toni Preckwinkle would be Todd Stroger without the laughs.

Terry O'Brien understands the job. Here is a Q & A from Cliff Carlson's great Irish American News ( click my post title):

Q. What is the Cook County Boardresponsible for?

A. About a third is health care, athird is safety which includes prisonsand courts, and another third is theinfrastructure system. Increase inelectronic monitoring, home confinementand work release programswould decrease incarceration of nonviolentcriminals, cutting the costs ofhousing offenders.

* In October 2007 Preckwinkle opposed naming a landmark in the 4th ward for 1976 Nobel literature laureate Saul Bellow, reportedly on the grounds that Bellow had made remarks that Preckwinkle considered racist.[32][33] She also opposed the renaming of a stretch of street near the original Playboy Club "Hugh Hefner Way",

Friday, December 25, 2009

For all of us Goyishers and Chicago is thick with us. I will highlight, as is my wont and will to do so, Sammy's Gems of Genius!

DIFFERENCE BETWEEN XMAS AND CHANUKAH

Now, if anyone asks you what the difference is between Christmas and Chanukah you will know what and how to answer!

1 Christmas is one day, same day every year, December 25. Jews also love December 25th. It's another paid day off work. We go to movies and out for Chinese food and Israeli dancing. Chanukah is 8 days. It starts the evening of the 24th of Kislev, whenever that falls. No one is ever sure. Jews never know until a non-Jewish friend asks when Chanukah starts*, forcing us to consult a calendar so we don't look like idiots. We all have the same calendar, provided free with a donation from the World Jewish Congress, the kosher butcher, or the local Sinai Memorial Chapel (especially in Florida ) or other Jewish funeral home.

2. Christmas is a major holiday. Chanukah is a minor holiday with the same theme as most Jewish holidays. They tried to kill us, we survived, let's eat.

3. Christians get wonderful presents such as jewelry, perfume, stereos... Jews get practical presents such as underwear, socks, or the collected works of the Rambam, which looks impressive on the bookshelf.

4. There is only one way to spell Christmas. No one can decide how to spell Chanukah, Chanukkah, Chanukka, Channukah, Hanukah, Hannukah, etc.

5. Christmas is a time of great pressure for husbands and boyfriends. Their partners expect special gifts. Jewish men are relieved of that burden. No one expects a diamond ring on Chanukah.

6. Christmas brings enormous electric bills. Candles are used for Chanukah. Not only are we spared enormous electric bills, but we get to feel good about not contributing to the energy crisis.

7. Christmas carols are beautiful...Silent Night, Come All Ye Faithful.... Chanukah songs are about dreidels made from clay or having a party and dancing the hora. Of course, we are secretly pleased that many of the beautiful carols were composed and written by our tribal brethren. And don't Barbara Streisand and Neil Diamond sing them beautifully?

8. A home preparing for Christmas smells wonderful. The sweet smell of cookies and cakes baking. Happy people are gathered around in festive moods. A home preparing for Chanukah smells of oil, potatoes, and onions. The home, as always, is full of loud people all talking at once.

9. Christian women have fun baking Christmas cookies. Jewish women burn their eyes and cut their hands grating potatoes and onions for latkas on Chanukah. Another reminder of our suffering through the ages.

10. Parents deliver to their children during Christmas. Jewish parents have no qualms about withholding a gift on any of the eight nights.

11. The players in the Christmas story have easy to pronounce names such as Mary, Joseph, and Jesus. The players in the Chanukah story are Antiochus , Judah Maccabee, and Matta whatever. No one can spell it or pronounce it. On the plus side, we can tell our friends anything and they believe we are wonderfully versed in our history.

12. Many Christians believe in the virgin birth. Jews think, "Yossela, Bubela, snap out of it. Your woman is pregnant, you didn't sleep with her, and now you want to blame G-d? Here's the number of my shrink".

13. In recent years, Christmas has become more and more commercialized. The same holds true for Chanukah, even though it is a minor holiday. It makes sense. How could we market a major holiday such as Yom Kippur? Forget about celebrating. Think observing. Come to synagogue, starve yourself for 27 hours, become one with your dehydrated soul, beat your chest, confess your sins, a guaranteed good time for you and your family. Tickets a mere $200 per person. Better stick with Chanukah!

Click my post title for Keely Smith -I Wish You Love! That ought to just about do it!

Merry Christmas and May God's Blessings Shower on You All!

THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO ST LUKE CHAPTER 2

1 And it came to pass in those days, that there went out a decree from Caesar Augustus, that all athe world should be btaxed. 2 (And this ataxing was first made when Cyrenius was governor of Syria.) 3 And all went to be taxed, every one into his own city. 4 And Joseph also went up from Galilee, out of the city of Nazareth, into Judaea, unto the city of David, which is called aBethlehem; (because he was of the house and lineage of David:) 5 To be taxed with Mary his aespoused wife, being great with child. 6 And so it was, that, while they were there, the days were accomplished that she should be delivered. 7 And she brought forth her afirstborn son, and wrapped him in swaddling clothes, and laid him in a manger; because there was no room for them in the binn. 8 And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. 9 And, lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the aglory of the Lord shone round about them: and they were sore afraid. 10 And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you agood tidings of great bjoy, which shall be to all people. 11 For unto you is aborn this day in the city of David a bSaviour, which is Christ the cLord. 12 And this shall be a asign unto you; Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger. 13 And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying, 14 aGlory to God in the highest, and on earth bpeace, good will toward men. 15 And it came to pass, as the angels were gone away from them into heaven, the shepherds said one to another, Let us now go even unto Bethlehem, and see this thing which is come to pass, which the Lord hath made known unto us. 16 And they came with ahaste, and found Mary, and Joseph, and the babe lying in a manger. 17 And when they had seen it, they made known abroad the saying which was told them concerning this child. 18 And all they that heard it awondered at those things which were told them by the shepherds. 19 But Mary kept all these things, and apondered them in her heart.

Wednesday, December 23, 2009

The Census was hiring but the process was much too long for Joseph, an unemployed Carpenter who had been laid off since the trim work on the Elderly Residence at 79th & California went in and that was October. Jesus Christ!

His wife was all set to give birth and the HMO had been notified that Joseph and Mary were visiting relatives in Porter County, Indiana. They were spending the Holidays with Mary's folks in Duneland just east of Gary.

Joseph had maxed out the Mastercard, but their Visa Debit Card was still good. The forty or so miles out of Chicago would be a hell of burden on the rusting 1998 Pontiac Bonneville SE that Joe's brother had ground out the crankshaft and bored-out the cylinders and rewired the whole machine, but the damn thing still ate gas and burned oil. The tank would cost them $45 at Thornton's in Blue Island near their apartment. They had a house until last year,but it went south with the economy.

Mary and Joe would eat lunch at Old Country Buffet in Lansing, as opposed to Jedi's Garden or even Cracker Barrel in Griffith or Highland as they were too pricey. Mary's Mom was working at the Blue Note Casino in Michigan City and her Dad had a job with Hancock Orchards in LaPorte at Christmas Time.

Joseph was hoping to get work as a Census taker, but like everything in government - those with drag are the first called.

Mary ate little at OCB and complained to Joseph. It could be the baby. They paid with the debit swipe and headed out to the Pontiac. Joseph placed his swollen bride into the passenger seat and scraped ice off the windows and mirrors and started up the dinosaur Saudi ATM.

The car shuddered a bit as they eased onto I-80 off of Torrence and Joe maintained a sensible interval between cars in the right lane. The Bonne's dashlight went red - CHECK ENGINE.

Joe pulled the car off at Kennedy Ave. and took the south exit toward Highland, Indiana. He parked in front Calumet Tobacco Wholesalers and, Armin Scheidler of Hessville in Hammond, the owner saw the young couple from through the front window -Christmas Eve! The Preston boys! Armin got on his Cingular One.

The Preston Brothers, Jason and Mark, had gone to Hobart High School, served in Desert Storms I & II as Transportation Pool Master Sergeants and opened a service center on the far south side of Griffith, just south and east of Highland. While Joe , a very good framer if not the absolute best finisher in the wood butchery trade, the boy was all asses and elbows with electricity, plumbing and automobiles.Joe had popped open the hood of the Bonneville and helplessly and pathetically like most of us males attempted to perform a miracle. For twenty minutes, Joe muled under the hood with gizmos and gadgets, while Mary moaned to him through the floor panel.

Armin Scheidler stuck around the store and sold cigars and cartons of cigarettes to Illinois and Hoosier last minute shoppers. He was already late for the party at V.I.P. Lounge on Glen Park Road. Armin called Mike McGillie the retired refractory salesman, Notre Dame All-American, Minnesota Viking and St. Louis Cardinal Alumnus.

Armin told McGillie about the plight of the two kids with Illinois Plates and said also that he thought the little girl had a duck in the oven. They didn't seem to have two nickels to rub together.

McGillie and Trib sports writer Freddie Matchell and real estate man and race horse owner Dennis Churilla took up a collection from the retired Inland, LTV and Republic steel workers and honchos who still drank at VIP, even though George Applegates sold the joint.

After twenty minutes, Jason Preston fired the Preston Brothers 2007 Ford F-650 Super Cab XLT wrecker into the lot on Kennedy Ave. Jason joined Joe under the hood and immediately diagnosed a blown oil pump. Jason got on the cell phone -no need for the CB anymore - and asked his Bro about the spare Melling M155. No, he had not done the full diagnostic. Asshole.

Mary had had it. Joe checked on his girl and saw that her water had broken. She was tough - no panic. Munster Hospital was ten minutes away. Jason called Terry Miller at the Griffith Fire House. The ambulance was on its way. Joe was told to go with Armin and Jason hooked up the Bonneville and took it to the shop where his brother was waiting with the Melling M155 Pump.

Terry Miller had Mary. Armin had Joseph. The Preston Boys had the Bonneville and Mike McGillie, Freddie Matchell and Dennis Churilla had a hat full of money ( Mike McGillie's hat was pretty big - he had a head on him like a boulder in a Gene Autry movie). The Preston Boys owed Dennis Churilla for part of the loan that they needed as a cash down stroke to Bank of America for their shop, back in 2005. Mike McGillie and Armin had a long and close relationship that networked the purchase of many high-end cigars to NFL players past and present and a few remaining American and Dutch Steel Magnates. Freddie Matchell wrote for The Tribune and had been coached by crabby George Applegates - who had once owned the spot on which the V.I.P. Lounge now stood. The Christmas Star was aligned with a whole bunch of stuff as they say.

Joe and Mary had a baby boy that they named Joshua. The baby was fine - they always seem to be so. Armin gave Joe the contents of McGillie's hat later when he took Joe in to meet the gang. Joe did not have a beer. He did not cry when he pocketed the money that these kind people had forced on him, though he really wanted to do so. It was a couple of hundred bucks. Mary's Mom and Dad were at the hospital. Joe's car would be done by Tuesday. Hell, he was set. Joe did not need to get that Census Job after all. Freddie Matchell wrote about the couple and the Christmas story went National. Dennis Churilla's horse won the next six races at Keeneland and Oak Lawn. The Preston Brothers placed some spare change on that bet and paid off Dennis's loan to them - Dennis was not too worried about it.

Armin Scheidler went to Florida after New Years.

Mike McGillie does this stuff all the time. Joseph and Mary moved out of their apartment in Blue Island and to a small house for the same rate in Griffith, Indiana.Mike McGillie talked to some guys that Dennis Churilla did business with in East Chicago and like magic -Joseph worked as a Carpenter again. I can't say how - it's Christmas.

AND it came to pass in those days, that there went out a decree from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be taxed. 2 (And this taxing was first made when Cyrenius was governor of Syria.) 3 And all went to be taxed, every one into his own city. 4 And Joseph also went up from Galilee, out of the city of Nazareth, into Judaea, unto the city of David, which is called Bethlehem; (because he was of the house and lineage of David:) 5 To be taxed with Mary his espoused wife, being great with child. 6 And so it was, that, while they were there, the days were accomplished that she should be delivered. 7 And she brought forth her firstborn son, and wrapped him in swaddling clothes, and laid him in a manger; because there was no room for them in the inn. 8 And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. 9 And, lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them: and they were sore afraid. 10 And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. 11 For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord. 12 And this shall be a sign unto you; Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger. 13 And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying, 14 Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.

Tuesday, December 22, 2009

Only Atheists take out billboards to mock the faith of people. Illinois Atheist Bob Sherman bought a bus. Churches do not persecute anyone in this country - that is for the ACLU to decide when a where the facts can be taffy-pulled into a new St. Batholomew's Day Massacre. That usually has to do with a five year old cupping hands in class and thank Jesus, or Yaweh, of Allah, or Vishnu for the peanut butter sandwich in her lunch. What I always found interesting was the fact that the American Congregationalist Evangelical Movement of the 19th Century, rooted in William Wilberforce's Enthusiasm for Abolition in England, was rooted in the religious/civil point of view that created the Anti-Catholic Laws in England. Ironically, William Wilberforce actively fought for Catholic Emancipation and his sons became Roman Catholics. Something left out of the PC version of this Champion of Abolition.

American intellectuals erase Catholic influence in all things. It's as old as the Great Awakening and the Brook Farm Movement, from which Orestes Brownson was cast away when he converted to Roman Catholicism. The ACLU's founders Roger Baldwin et al were the secular preachers of Secular Enthusiasm.

Mother England codified much of the ACLU's "Do-Away With" Pettifoggery from Good Queen Bess, the Cromwellian period and through the Glorious Revolution.

Ireland suffered under Penal Laws* (Na Péindlíthe) that outlawed the practice of religion while Wilberforce fought to end the slave trade around the world.

In Ireland, no catholic could hear Mass and priests were hunted, like wolves. Father Nick Sheehy was the las recorded Outlaw Priest 'murdered by the Crown in 1766. Irish peasants heard Mass.

Christmas is as much under assault as my ancestors were when they attended the Eucharist at Mass Rocks ( Carraig an Aifrinn ) out in the cold and wind and rain. We squeak when Terry McEldowney opens all the windows at Sacred Heart before Mass- " Wakes You Clowns Up!"

The 12 Days of Christmas is often thought to be a nice Secularist French Seasonal Song - nope, it seems that the tune and the words were ones of resistnace against religious persecution. The numbered items hold religious conotations. "The 12 Days of Christmas." It is said that each gift represents an aspect of the Catholic faith and that the song was used to teach children during a time when Catholicism was banned. Many versions of the story abound, one being written by a Friar who states that he was doing research in some old Latin texts when he came up references to the song in "letters from Irish priests, mostly Jesuits, writing back to the motherhouse at Douai-Rheims, in France." ( click my post title)

Ironically enough the Partridge ( that sits in the Pear Tree- Fruit Tree for Wassiling Cider?)symbolizes the Church and has also been used to represent Satan. Both might work in this song.

*Exclusion of Catholics from most public offices (since 1607), Presbyterians were also barred from public office from 1707. Ban on intermarriage with Protestants; repealed 1778 Presbyterian marriages were not legally recognised by the state Catholics barred from holding firearms or serving in the armed forces (rescinded by Militia Act of 1793) Bar from membership in either the Parliament of Ireland or the Parliament of Great Britain from 1652; rescinded 1662-1691; renewed 1691-1829. Disenfranchising Act 1728, exclusion from voting until 1793; Exclusion from the legal professions and the judiciary; repealed (respectively) 1793 and 1829. Education Act 1695 - ban on foreign education; repealed 1782. Bar to Catholics entering Trinity College Dublin; repealed 1793. On a death by a Catholic, his legatee could benefit by conversion to the Church of Ireland; Popery Act - Catholic inheritances of land were to be equally subdivided between all an owner's sons with the exception that if the eldest son and heir converted to Protestantism that he would become the one and only tenant of estate and portions for other children not to exceed one third of the estate. This "Gavelkind" system had previously been abolished by 1600. Ban on converting from Protestantism to Roman Catholicism on pain of Praemunire: forfeiting all property estates and legacy to the monarch of the time and remaining in prison at the monarch's pleasure. In addition, forfeiting the monarch's protection. No injury however atrocious could have any action brought against it or any reparation for such. Ban on Catholics buying land under a lease of more than 31 years; repealed 1778. Ban on custody of orphans being granted to Catholics on pain of 500 pounds that was to be donated to the Blue Coat hospital in Dublin. Ban on Catholics inheriting Protestant land Prohibition on Catholics owning a horse valued at over £5 (in order to keep horses suitable for military activity out of the majority's hands) Roman Catholic lay priests had to register to preach under the Registration Act 1704, but seminary priests and Bishops were not able to do so until 1778 When allowed, new Catholic churches were to be built from wood, not stone, and away from main roads. 'No person of the popish religion shall publicly or in private houses teach school, or instruct youth in learning within this realm' upon pain of twenty pounds fine and three months in prison for every such offence. Repealed in 1782. [2] Any and all rewards not paid by the crown for alerting authorities of offences to be levied upon the Catholic populace within parish and county.

I love Liberals and there are darned fewer of them than there were when I started teaching English.

Liberals were often very well-educated and well-dis positioned men and women who looked to the human heart for the path to God. Liberals are Cyrano De Bergerac*!

Liberals did not need Decalogues, Doctrines or Dogmas rather they found the wholeness of human decency to be a Universal.

I am far too lazy a man to have been a Liberal and far too ignorant to be a Conservative. Conservatives have already devoured the books that I intend to read - witness Steve Jordan, Elias Crim, Tom Roeser, Dan Kelley and Max Weismann. Conservatives are St. Thomas More.

I feature some where far between such heroes - a combination of Bob Newhart/Stanley Kowalski.

One of the great Liberals - no Progressive ( a Dogmatic Dewey Spewer and faux-Hegalian flannelmouth) - in my circle of friends is journalist and Beachwood Reporter Publisher Steve Rhodes.

I began to admire this energetic young man's work, while I was teaching at La Lumiere School in the early 1990's. Steve Rhodes wants God's poor and unprotected safe and happy, but will not distort or destroy history to make that happen.

Recently Steve Rhodes had been a contributor to NBC.com Chicago. Along with Mary Ann Ahern, Steve Rhodes was one of my favorite Peacock Reporters.

Today, I learned of attempts by NBC to silence a journalist. Steve Rhodes has more integrity in his chin-whiskers than Peacock has lawyers.

Click my post title for a full account of Steve Rhodes' refusal to "Tickle the Horns of Mammon."

Here's a gem!

News organizations are the biggest hypocrites on the planet because they so often violate ethical standards - conflicts of interest, deception of the public - that they so often try to hold others to. Nothing is more disheartening to journalists who actually believe in what they do to hear of and confront and become entangled such untoward activities.

*

What would you have me do?Seek for the patronage of some great man,And like a creeping vine on a tall tree crawlupward, where I cannot stand alone? Nothank you! Dedicate, as others do, Poems topawnbrokers? Be a buffoonIn the vile hope of teasing out a smileOn some cold face? No thank you! Eat a toadFor breakfast every morning? Make my kneesCallous, and cultivate a supple spine,-Wear out my belly grovelling in the dust?No thank you! Scratch the back of any swineThat roots up gold for me? Tickle the horns ofMammon with my left hand, while my right,Too proud to know his partner's -business,Takes in the fee? No thank you! Use the fireGod gave me to burn incense all day longUnder the nose of wood and stone? No thank you!Shall I go leaping into ladies' lapsAnd licking fingers? Or, to change the form-Navigating with madrigals for oars,My sails full of the sighs of dowagers?No thank you! Publish verses at my ownExpense? No thank you! Be the patron saintOf a small group of literary soulsWho dine together every Tuesday? No,I thank you! Shall I labor night and dayTo build a reputation on one song,And never write another? Shall I findTrue genius only among Geniuses,Palpitate over little paragraphs,And struggle to insinuate my nameIn the columns of The Mercury!No thank you! Calculate, scheme, be afraid,Love more to make a visit than a poem,Seek introductions, favors, influences? Nothank you! No, I thank you! And againI thank you! But . . .To sing, to laugh, to dream,To walk in my own way and be alone,Free, with an eye to see things as they are,A voice that means manhood--to cock my hatWhere I choose-- At a word, a Yes, a No,To fight--or write. To travel any roadUnder the sun, under the stars, nor doubtIf fame or fortune lie beyond the bourne--Never to make a line I have not heardIn my own heart; yet, with all modestyTo say: “My soul, be satisfied with flowers,With fruit, with weeds even; but gather themIn the one garden you may call your own.”So, when I win some triumph, by some chance,Render no share to Caesar--in a word,I am too proud to be a parasite,And if my nature is not that which growsTowering to heaven like the mountain pine,Or like the oak, sheltering multitudes--I stand, not high it may be--but alone!

Three Gents were bar stooling at Keegan's Pub. As I quaffed a Lime Ricky, I overheard a trio of Catholic Southside Squires waxing poetic and poignant on the Life Marital*. These three worthies were crafting rodomontade about how they had given their wives duties. The first Hector had married a sweet woman from Faith, Hope and Charity parish way up in Winnetka whom he had met at St. Pat's World's Largest Street Party and waxed thrasonical that he had told his bride that she was going to do all the dishes and house cleaning. He said it took a couple days but on the third day he came home to a clean house and the dishes were done.

The second Punter had married a woman from Nativity Parish in Bridgeport. This St. Gabriel Parish raised Commodities Wizard bragged that he had given his wife orders that she was to do all the cleaning, dishes and the cooking. On that very first day, he didn't see any results, but the next day, it was better. By the third day, his house was clean, the dishes were done, and he had a huge dinner on the table.

The third Buckeen from St. Barnabas Parish married a girl from St. Cajetans Parish. The Boorish Buckeye told this Lady Warrior that her duties were to keep the house clean, dishes washed, lawn mowed, laundry washed, and hot meals on the table for every meal. Our Barnabian Burgomeister said that on the first day he didn't see anything near what he had ordained to be the Master's Will and on the second day he didn't see anything as well but by the third day most of the swelling had gone down, and he could see a little out of his left eye; enough to fix himself a bite to eat, load the dishwasher, and telephone Brian Hogan's Landscaping Services.

Because of the assaults against the Christian Faith and the family by elements within contemporary society which have led to pervasive moral confusion, to damage and destruction of families and the men, women and children who comprise them;

Because we adhere to the Catholic Christian faith as expressed in Holy Scripture, the Nicene, Apostolic and Athanasian Creeds, in the ecumenical Councils of the Church, and in the continued deepening of the understanding of the revelations of Sacred Truth to the Church by the Holy Spirit through the teaching authority of the Church and of the Successors of Peter, Apostle;

Because we wish to affirm our desire to realize our vocations and our duty as Christians and as women in accordance with these authentic teachings, following the example and instruction of Our Savior Jesus Christ, and the example of Mary, His mother;

Because we are cognizant of our obligations as Christian women to witness to our faith, being mindful that this witness is important to the formation of the moral conscience of our families and of humanity, we wish to make this affirmation:

1. We believe that through God's grace our female nature affords us distinct physical and spiritual capabilities with which to participate in the Divine Plan for creation. Specifically, our natural function of childbearing endows us with the spiritual capacity for nurture, instruction, compassion and selflessness, which qualities are necessary to the establishment of families, the basic and Divinely ordained unit of society, and to the establishment of a Christian social order.

2. We believe that to attempt to subvert or deny our distinct nature and role as women subverts and denies God's plan for humanity, and leads to both personal disintegration and ultimately to the disintegration of society. Accordingly, we reject all ideologies which seek to eradicate the natural and essential distinction between the sexes, which debase and devalue womanhood, family life and the nurturing role of women in society.

3. We affirm the intrinsic sacredness of all human life, and we reject the notion that abortion, the deliberate killing of unborn children, is the "right" of any human being, male or female, or of any government. Such a distorted and corrosive notion of individual freedom is, in fact, inimical to authentic Christianity and to the establishment and maintenance of a just social order.

4. We accept and affirm the teaching of the Catholic Church on all matters dealing with human reproduction, marriage, family life and roles for men and women in the Church and in society.

5. We therefore also reject as an aberrant innovation peculiar to our times and our society the notion that priesthood is the "right" of any human being, male or female. Furthermore, we recognize that the specific role of ordained priesthood is intrinsically connected with and representative of the begetting creativity of God in which only human males can participate. Human females, who by nature share in the creativity of God by their capacity to bring forth new life, and, reflective of this essential distinction, have a different and distinct role within the Church and in society from that accorded to men, can no more be priests than men can be mothers.

6. We recognize and affirm the vocations of women who subordinate their human role of motherhood and family life in order to consecrate their lives to the service of God, His Church and humanity. Such women's authentic response of consecrated service to the physical, spiritual and/or intellectual needs of the community in no way diminishes or compromises their essential female nature, or the exercise of inherent attributes, insights and gifts peculiar to women. Rather, it extends the applications of these gifts beyond the individual human family.

7. We stand with the Second Vatican Council, which took for granted the distinct roles for men and women in the family and in society and affirmed that Christian education must impart knowledge of this distinction: "In the entire educational program [Catholic school teachers] should, together with the parents, make full allowance for the difference of sex and for the particular role which Providence has appointed to each sex in the family and in society. (Declaration on Education, Sec. 8, paragraph 3, from Vatican II Documents, ed. Austin Flannery, 1981)

8. We pledge our wholehearted support to the teachings of Pope John Paul II concerning all aspects of family life and roles for men and women in the Church and in society, especially as contained in the Apostolic Exhortation, Familiaris Consortio; and we resolve to apply the principles contained therein to our own lives, our families and our communities, God being our aid.

You inherited this eight year mess from George Bush - we got it. Big Ed Schultz has it on 10.

Comb Over Dave and Rahm-a-Lama- Dang-Dong are pinching pectorals to make things look Okay, but things are bad.

Mr. President, five years ago you were a back-bencher in Springfield with a huge loss to Bobby Rush under your belt. You wanted to craft your biography. You did. However, you do not have much of a resume. Let's face it. Short Bus Sweeney could direct the Woods Fund. Send check to whomever Bill Ayers designates. Teach constitutional Law?Not much of a stretch there, I'd say. I taught very low level American & British Lit. ( Breathing for Credit) to 37 Dukes of Hazard fans. That was taxing.

Nope. You can not rush things.

For instance, say Obama and his party had not muscled through a $787 billion stimulus package and spent nearly that much to rescue banks and car companies. Most experts say those steps averted the collapse of the U.S. economy. A collapse would have been, suffice it to say, far more upsetting to voters than the bailouts and deficit spending they are criticizing now.

Moving along to health reform, some pundits argue that Obama should have punted or gone small or written the darn bill himself to avoid the messy, irritating marathon now in progress. But delay or small ball would have left the field wide open for stories about health insurance horrors, Obama reneging on a central campaign pledge, and the general incompetence of Democrats. As for writing the bill himself, that came to naught for the Clintons in 1994. In any case, as many senators are now making perfectly clear, there is no way to control a senator who does not want to be controlled.

Obama has also raised expectations with his foreign trips, and as he headed for the Copenhagen climate summit, the Republican Party helpfully released an archive of negative assessments of his travels. On the other hand, what if Obama hadn't gone to Copenhagen in October to argue for a Chicago Olympics, or again this week to try to cement international progress on global warming? Then we would be hearing about how he might have made a difference but he didn't care, or he didn't try hard enough.

The truth is that presidents are hostages to fortune. George W. Bush had an 84 percent approval rating at this point in his first term because it was just after the 9/11 attacks. Obama is at the same level as Ronald Reagan and Bill Clinton, and that should be no surprise. All three inherited bad economies.

Yikes. Come home. Stay home for a while. Copenhagen - you are 0 and 2 - Chicago and the Climate Dodge. Mr. President, You are Willy Loman.

Go to Kankakee River State Park and sort things out over the Christmas Holidays.

Stop at Maple Tree Inn in Blue Island and treat the kids and Missus to Tommy's Smoked Ribs and smothered greens. Get the deep fried Green Tomatoes and Dill Pickles.

Thursday, December 17, 2009

“Life is the soul's nursery -Its training place for the destinies of eternity.” William Makepeace Thackeray

Bobby Green 1973-2009Posted by Joseph Ryan on Wed, 12/16/2009 - 17:15

The accomplished son of political professor Paul Green died recently after a lengthy battle with brain cancer.Robert Green, 36, touched countless lives as the respected choral director at Fremd High School in the northwest suburbs.Our thoughts and prayers go out to Paul Green and his family.The following is the obituary submitted by the Green family and below that is a recent article to appear in the Daily Herald:

Robert ‘Bobby’ Harris Green, age 36, a resident of Arlington Heights, Illinois passed away on Saturday, December 12, 2009 at his parents home in Chicago after a six and a half year battle with an inoperable brain tumor.Bobby was the youngest candidate to be named Musical Director at Fremd high School at age 26 and thereafter served as Department Chairman for several years. Robert raised the quality of artistic performance and increased enrollment in the choir program at Fremd and was well respected in the district.Bobby was the leading force enabling the Senior Fremd High School Choral Group to perform in a public concert at Carnegie Hall in 2002. He also organized concert tours in Europe and across the United State with his students where they sang at major cathedrals and theaters. His passion for music went beyond his students to even the parents who were recruited to sing with their children during holiday performances at Fremd. He arranged many of the pieces the choirs performed.He was also known for having his Chamber Singers perform annually during the holiday season on WGN Radio. His friends looked forward to his annual formal ‘soirees’ at his home where they were required to perform serious and funny original songs.Robert received the Principal’s Award for Excellence in Teaching at Fremd School and inspired hundreds of students to find careers in the field of music, both as teachers and performers. Facebook is alive with stories from his former students who credit Robert with their career success and passion for music.Robert was a graduate of Homewood-Flossmoor High School, received two simultaneous bachelor degrees from the University of Illinois (Summa Cum Laude, Phi Beta Kappa, Chancellor Scholar and Bronze Tablet) and a masters in Music from Louisiana State University. From high school through grad school Robert won every school music contest he entered whether it was choir conducting or original variety shows.He loved to travel and even during his last year managed to visit Hawaii, Alaska, New Mexico, Idaho and Germany and, two months ago, while in hospice care, drove with his family to Nebraska….reaching his goal of visiting all 50 states.His parents, Sharon (Remaks) and Paul, and his sister Sarah Green of Newport Beach were at his side when his mighty fight for life ended. Throughout his diagnosis he spoke openly about his disease and raised over $30,000 dollars for brain cancer research through walks and special events. He is survived by grandfathers Sam Greenberg (Charlotte), Wilbert Remaks (Jeanne), aunts and uncles Bill and Jean Remaks, Howard and Christy Green, Rosalie Clark (William), Gloria and Shelley Welstein, Bob Welstein (Eleanor) and numerous loving cousins and friends throughout the U.S., Canada and Europe.He was privately cremated.A public celebration of his life will be held at 3 p.m. on Saturday, January 9, 2010 at Fremd High School, 1000 South Quentin Road, Palatine, IL. A music education college scholarship has been established in his name at Fremd High School.Donations can be sent to the Robert Green Music Scholarship Fund, Township District #211 Foundation, 1750 S. Roselle Road, Palatine, IL 60067-7336. Farewell to Bobby, in harmony.

Here is the Daily Herald's article:

Students involved in musical theater in the Palatine area have suffered a one-two punch, with the passing of a second musical director in just more than a week.

Fremd High School choral Director Robert Green died Saturday from brain cancer at the age of 36. His death came on the heels of losing Susannah Kist, 47, who died Dec. 4 of breast cancer and had directed hundreds of students through the Palatine Park District theater programs.

"We have a lot of kids here who are really suffering," said Lauren Dennhardt, Fremd drama club director and media center specialist.

Mr. Green directed four levels of choir at Fremd and served as musical director for its plays. He was the son of Paul Green, the WGN radio political commentator and director of Roosevelt University's School of Policy Studies.

"He was the most beloved teacher, who was absolutely adored by all the students and faculty," Dennhardt added. "He had this youthful understanding of the students, and just a great sense of fun."

Teaching at Fremd was Mr. Green's first job after earning his undergraduate degrees in music and psychology at the University of Illinois and a master's degree in music from Louisiana State University.

He began at the school in 1998, and numbers in its choral program soared under his direction, his colleagues say.

"He covered all the bases, teaching his students serious college literature to a taste of pop music," says David Lang, music department chairman. "This may have well been a university; that's how high the bar was that he achieved with his students."

Over the course of his career, two of his choirs received prestigious invitations to perform at the Illinois Music Educators Association All-State conference.

At Fremd, Mr. Green served for a short time as music department chair, and he also was the assistant variety show director.

One of his most endearing roles was as part of the production team, directing vocals for the student musical mounted each December.

A memorial service for Mr. Green, who grew up in south suburban Flossmoor, is being planned for Jan. 9 at Fremd.

If I read this to you and did not tell you that it was an FBI agent describing what Americans had done to prisoners in their control, you would most certainly believe this must have been done by Nazis, Soviets in their gulags, or some mad regime—Pol Pot or others—that had no concern for human beings. Sadly, that is not the case. This was the action of Americans in the treatment of their prisoners.

Durbin the Turban 2005

I felt then, and still feel, that these policies were not reflective of American values.

Dithering Dick Durbin 2009

Shore Dew Look like Dithering Dick the Planned Parenthood Personally Prolife Parsing-Panda Panderer understands he is on short time as US Senator.

Roland Burris has eclipsed this unprincipled dope. Is Durbin the Turban sending messages to Rahm Emmanuel and Dave Axelrod that he wants to be the Safe-Prisons Czar?

Wednesday, December 16, 2009

Discussing écrivain engagé, Andre Malraux with Smash McKenna at Keegan’s Pub during half-time of the Bears/Greenbay abortion, I quoted the author of La Condition humaine to make plain my point about the 4th Ward Alderman “There is always a need for intoxication: China has opium, Islam has hashish, the West has woman.”

It appears that Terry O'Brien will get the vote of many, many Cook County voters - nevertheless! Alas, as Andre Gide might offer!

As Mike Houlihan pointed out -

O’Brien has served as President of the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District of Greater Chicago, (MWRDGC), for 13 years and has served on the board of Commissioners for 21 years. He has overseen a budget in excess of $1 billion and runs one of the few government agencies in the State of Illinois to have an AAA bond rating from all three bond rating agencies.O’Brien boasts of a “professional workforce”, because his employees are “hired for what they know and not who they know! They are required to take exams!”Exams for public employees? Now that’s an idea that should strike fear into the heart of every loafer who ever picked up a paycheck from the county payroll. Maybe we should start holding exams for public office.If an administrative exam were given for President of the Cook County Board could all the candidates pass? Would they ask to be graded on a curve? And who in the world would be grading these exams? Hopefully it wouldn’t be Todd Stroger’s cousin.If Terry O’Brien can get his message out to all Cook County voters we might actually turn the corner on the ineptitude of the last few years. O’Brien represents the best opportunity for greater financial accountability and real leadership for the Cook County Board. He says, “I want to do for Cook County what I have done for the Water Reclamation District.”It sure would be nice to wake up some morning next year and know that there is a professional in charge. If the electorate has the opportunity to learn more about Terry O'Brien, Cook County's days of misery may soon be over. Let's hope so.

Nevertheless the heady words of earnest activist polemicist Malraux popped out from my discourse - " Smash let me offer this from Malraux, 'The great mystery is not that we should have been thrown down here at random between the profusion of matter and that of the stars; it is that from our very prison we should draw, from our own selves, images powerful enough to deny our nothingness.'"

To which pipe-coverer McKenna cocked an eye-brow and rejoined, ” You poor simple Sonavabitch Hickey, it is not the need to feel proletarian that smokes our meats, but the “will” to be prolertarian – Toni Preckwinkle falls down manholes and your Little Flower cravat is in my Smithwicks.”

Chicago Firefighter Jim McMahon saves lives on the job and all the time. Notre Dame cares only about getting into a Bowl Game and fitting more mopes into goofy checked golf slacks, while kissing the fanny of America's Most Pro Abortion President.

Notre Dame University had scores of people arrested and charged - people who protested the asinine bestowal of a Doctor of Laws on Planned Parenthood's President -Barack H. Obama. Let's get those charges dropped.

Jim McMahon reminds all of us to help push Notre Dame to drop the charges aaginst the protestors.

Click my post title to the link and sign the petition.

You will do the right thing. It has been years since the PR Driven School in South Bend did the same.

O Beloved one, How did you manage to, so heartily eat those slices of melon ? Just one slice of the melon had such an effect on me, then how did you manage to eat so many slices ?" Luqman(A.S.) replied: "O Friend, from your hands I have received hundreds of gifts. The burden of thanks upon me is so great, that my back has gone crooked. Hence, I felt ashamed that the hand that had granted me so much favours, if one day some distastefulness or bitterness should come, how can I turn away from it ? O Friend, the pleasure of knowing that it comes from your hands has changed the bitterness of the melon to sweetness." Luqman Servant of Allah

Thanks Illinois Former Elected ( well not Pat Quinn of course) Officials for making Thomson Illinois the Epi-Center of Illinois Melonaires!

Former Governor Pat Quinn and Former Senator Dick Durbin are True Men of Genius!

Thomson, Illinois is the Melon Capital of the World. Some argue that Illinois will become more of a Terrorist Epicenter - Well, Never Pass Up a Catastrophe! Gitmo North will attract Terrorists You Say? Bring 'em on! They Gotta Eat and No one can pass up a delicious Thomason Melon!

Thomson, IL will become the World Melon Market. Melons Rock the Casbah and the Thompson Center and soon the White House!

Dig into the Melon groove! Futures and Commodities Melons ain;t no Oddity!

From High Plains Midwest AG Journal no less!

Time to thump the melons

Watermelon is no longer just the stuff of barbecues and seed spitting contests. It is all grown up and playing a sweet note in dishes, not just dribbling juices down your face.

The first problem one encounters when face-to-face with a melon is how do you tell when it is ripe. You can always cut a plug and taste, providing the melon is in your own patch, (for some strange reason purveyors of the juicy fruits frown upon plugging).

Thumping is fun, but it doesn't work for me. Sniffing, does however. Just go nose to nose with the fruit and if you can smell the taste of the melon, it is ripe. Some people push a bit on the stem end and if it gives a bit that is another indication of ripeness. Pay no attention if a melon has a light colored area on its fat body, that merely marks the part of the melon that was lying on the earth and out of reach of the sun. It has nothing to do with ripeness not with sweetness.

Sweetness is what most people enjoy about melons. The higher the fructose content the better we like it. The darker the meat of the melon, the more sugar it holds. If you are buying by the slice or the wedge, you can eyeball the color and pick accordingly. Avoid mealy melons as they are the old guys who lounged around in the sun too long. All melons and most fruits take kindly to salt and to lemon or lime juice as they enhance flavor and makes the melon taste sweeter.

Watermelon & Goat Cheese Salad

Red and yellow watermelon (or a combination of different kinds of melon) when served together make a colorful salad, but you can use just one kind if you like.

Cut both melons into 1/2-inch cubes, remove seeds and place in a large bowl. Cut tomatoes in half or quarters and add to the bowl. Lightly chop cilantro or parsley, add to the watermelon, along with shallot, salt, olive oil and vinegar. Mix well. Depending on sweetness of melons and acidity of tomatoes, adjust seasoning with salt or vinegar, if needed. Serves 6 to 8 as a salad.

Seed melon cubes, if necessary. Put cubes in a blender and process until smooth. Pour puree through a strainer, pushing gently. Discard pulp. The remaining puree will be very thin, almost like juice; set aside in refrigerator. For gazpacho: To 4 cups of puree, add the lemon juice, vinegar, mint, onion, berries, salt, pepper and cayenne; mix well. Chill at least 2 hours to allow the flavors to blend. Serve in chilled bowls. Makes 4 servings.

Remove any seeds, then cut all but about 1 cup of melon into chunks and place in blender or food processor. (It's okay if a few seeds make it into the blender.) Add enough water to blend, sugar and lime juice; blend until quite smooth. Strain through a fine strainer, pressing solids to get as much liquid out as possible, and add remaining water, plus more sugar and lime juice to taste. Cut remaining melon into small dice and add to the agua fresca. Chill until cold or serve immediately over ice. Makes 4 glasses.

This unstrained agua fresca has chunks of melon and more water than the strained version. Pick the ripest melon you can find. You can also use honeydew or specialty melons. This will hold in the refrigerator for a day or two.

Scoop out the seeds, then cut the melon into large chunks and place in the blender. Add enough water to blend, sugar and lime juice and blend on "liquefy" until quite smooth, up to a few minutes. Add remaining water and more sugar and lime juice to taste, if you like. Chill until cold or serve immediately over ice. Makes 4 glasses.

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Dad always said that I couldn't find my butt with both hands. I can. Allow me to add this imperative -“Defend the unborn against abortion even if they persecute you, calumniate you, set traps for you, take you to court or kill you." - Pope Francis to celebrate Pro-life Mass, Vatican

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